My father in law {Andrew Curtis} is nearing the end of his eventful life. In the early years {during the time of WW II} he was a pilot for the USAAF. I would appreciate his inclusion to the list of pilots. A small honor to the memory of a great man.

My father in law {Andrew Curtis} is nearing the end of his eventful life. In the early years {during the time of WW II} he was a pilot for the USAAF. I would appreciate his inclusion to the list of pilots. A small honor to the memory of a great man.

Thank You Stephen E Hood

do you happen to know his rank at the time and what unit he was with ? would be happy to try and hook him up into the right place if we can

He never flew combat {in WW II}, coming in a little too late. I know he flew B-25s and later was trained on or checked out in P-51. Still later, I think he flew C-124 and C-118. Not sure about this as it is second hand and getting information from him is currently not possible {His heart just isn't pumping enough blood to his brain to get much coherent thought}. I do not know what actual units he served with.

I married late in life and unfortunately did not get to meet him till he was in a rapid deterioration of health. Even so, he is a someone special.

His B-17 was shot down in Feb 45 and he became a German POW. He received wounds that partially crippled him when he bailed out and landed on the second story of a German house. Shaken from plunging through the roof, he climbed back onto the roof and slipped off the roof, falling into a blind alley. He broke several bones in his legs. As he lay there he was attacked by German towns people with farm implements. He used tell me it was the best shooting of his life. He didn't want to kill anyone because he figured they'd really get pissed off and mass rush him. So he fired close enough to make them think he was trying to hit them and keep them scared (he used to hunt squirrels and muskrats before the war so he was a pretty good shot). (The town was approximately 10 km from the town my mother's parents had emigrated from in 1896 and he would joke that the farmers were in-lawshad been objecting to his marrying my Mom)He also said that he used to get ribbed about the large number of .45cal clips he used to stash in his flying uniform, but he said he used most of them that day. He was taken into German custody and sent to a "bad boy" POW because he refused to make any agreements with or reveal any info to his captors. He tried to escape twice but was quickly recaptured (didn't move too well). Liberated in May 1945, he was shipped to the Pacific where he was a supply officer responsible for stockpiling supplies for the invasion of Japan (and their destruction when the Japanese surrendered). It was there he was infected with an incurable fungal disease. Although he had had a basketball scholarship at Kansas State University when he had enlisted in 1942, the broken bones, meatball German medical treatment, and the fungal infection left him unable to play sports.

He was recalled to active duty in 1950 for the Korean war as first a Ground Forward Air Controller with the South Korean Army and then with the Turkish UN Brigade. Wounded again, he was transferred after healing and became a maintenance officer. After the Korean War, he spent several tours with the Office of Special Investigation doing counter-intelligence, security inspections, and crime investigation.

He finished his career in 1967 as a LTC teaching AFROTC at Oklahoma State University. After retirement, he became a school teacher, then assistant principal at the county high school. After several years in that capacity, he had a flareup of a fungal infestation he had gotten in the South Pacific which caused open ulcers up to 18 inches long to open along his right leg, thigh, and back. This was the first of several hospital stays that lasted from 6 months to a year. In 1971, he was declared 100% permanently disabled from war related injuries by the Veteran's Administration. After several more hospital stays over the next 20 years or so, the doctors amputated his right leg well above the knee. When he became ill with pneumonia in March 2006, he took the time to arrange his will and other legal documents on the desk, got on the bus and checked himself into the hospital. He died less than 24 hours later.

I think you would have, too. As an ROTC instructor and even as an assisstant principal he was greatly liked by his students. I always enjoyed talking with him. Even after a year, I still miss him a lot. I thought including him in BTR is a small bid to his sacrifices for country and family.

Corporal Charles Dillon(1909-1994)(Canadian Army) (Paternal Grandfather, not sure exactly what he did during the war, and I'm a bit sketchy on his birth date. He might have actually been born in 1906.)

Fred is a friend of mine who's father flew Brewster Buffaloes in the Far East with the Netherlands East-Indies AF (ML-KNIL)(Singapore & Java), later escaped the Japs flying from Java in a Lockheed 12 to Ceylon (navigating on a roadmap and with two P-40 droptanks in the hold for extra fuel). From 1942 - 1945 he flew B-25's in 18 Sq NEI-AF from Australia and finally also flew against the Indonesians in their struggle for independance from Holland.

I can help you with some more (historical) names for the Dutch, both in their own Squadrons (322 RAF, 320 RAF, 321 RAF and 860 FAA).

"Van" is mostly written as "van" as in "Arnold van Delft" (the 'van' meaning he is originally from the city of Delft). The same with "der". It is "Hans van der Kop".

Not so odd that most Dutch pilots were not in Dutch squadrons, as they had more opportunity for action in British or mixed RAF squadrons and certainly more opportunity for promotion (only one position for squadron CO in the single Dutch fighter squadron.....).

I'd like to include the historical names from the Brazilian pilots. They were all from the 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter Group, 12th USAAF, and they flew P-47 Thunderbolt during the Italian campaing, from late 1944 until the end of the war.

I would like to add my grandfather, who fought in World War 2 in the US Army in the European theater, Emil Holtz. I believe he was a sergeant. He passed away in 2000 and I would like to honor his memory. Thank you for this opportunity.